On Tuesday, everything was looking up for Newcastle.
They were
over the worst of a savage injury list which robbed them of virtually the entire first
team for several months.
They were
riding high after coming from behind to beat Tottenham away over the weekend, thanks in
part to a stunning goal from Obafemi Martins.
And they were
looking forward to an FA Cup third-round replay at home to Birmingham -- a game they were
overwhelming favourites for.
Fast forward
to Wednesday evening, and it all came crashing down as Newcastle were torn to shreds in a
5-1 defeat to their Championship opponents.
Birmingham
was ahead in the opening five minutes, and Newcastle never offered a hint that they were
going to turn it around.
Magpies boss
Glenn Roeder, so glowing in his praise of his squad in the days leading up to the game,
was as stunned as anyone after the game.
"I apologize to the fans," he said. "I
think apologies are due after such a lack of performance from everybody. I certainly had
no indication there was going to be a performance like that -- this was the same 11
players who beat Tottenham on Sunday.
"We
never got going all night and in the end we have been badly punished. It was just a
rank bad performance and a humiliating defeat at home."
The rapid
change in fortunes summarizes Newcastle's inconsistent season so far.
Whenever things have seemed at their worst -- such as their grim run of results in October
-- something has come along like the impressive 1-0 UEFA Cup win at Palermo to lift the
gloom.
Whenever
things are going well -- see the rapid rise up the table in December -- the balloon has
been just as quickly burst, as happened in the 3-0 loss to Everton.
Roeder, an
unlikely man to fill the Newcastle hot seat -- few chairmen are as trigger happy as Freddy
Shepherd -- has done well to keep on an even keel through the chaos, and he won't panic
after this defeat -- which may even help his small squad in the long run by reducing the
fixture congestion.
But he knows
there is much work still to be done.
Inept
defending cost Newcastle dear on Wednesday, as has so often been the case in the league.
It is the area where the injury problems still run the deepest and where the squad is too
short on quality even when fully fit.
Roeder said
after the Spurs game that he would not swap goalkeeper Shay Given for any other custodian
in the Premiership, but that sentiment is of no use to anyone if the Irish international
is not afforded some basic protection.
Given would
probably swap his defense for anyone but equally inept West Ham right now.
Good news
then that it is the hapless Hammers who are due at St. James' Park on Saturday.
Even coming
off the humiliating loss, Newcastle should be backed to beat Alan Curbishley's side.
The manager
will demand a response from his team and should get it against his former team.
West Ham
remains one of three teams -- the bottom three, in fact -- yet to win away, which is the
quickest explanation as to why WagerWeb.com offers them as outsiders at +333.
It will be
all doom and gloom in Newcastle on Thursday morning on the back of a stunning defeat, but
Saturday is a whole new day. What a difference one of those can make. |
